uprooted #1-10, 2023-2024

Archival pigment print, 16x16" (round series) and 24x34" each

After two decades of drought, California experienced bomb cyclones and atmospheric rivers in early 2023. This series of color photographs, made at The Sea Ranch on the Sonoma coast where I live, pays homage to over 500 fallen trees and their upended visible roots. Inspired by Goethe’s color theory that there is light in darkness, I've been using the negative image as a conceptual strategy to unveil the below the surface world invisible to the naked eye. Like an X-ray, the different shades of blue emerge from light and shadows cast on the soil and on the trees’ upended roots. The reversed hues allude to humans’ perception of the color spectrum and the nature of seeing. “Uprooted” evokes an entropic state of being pulled from the ground, suggesting connections between macro and micro, darkness and light, above and below. The massive plant’s root foundation when exposed, reveals a glimpse into the psychic life of an otherwise unseen world, beckoning the viewer to reimagine the reality of climate change and the many events that shape our movements, and the changes in our own lives.